Andrew Jones: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Since arriving in Portland in 2009 the multifarious bassist, composer and songwriter has been hard to pin down, working with an incredibly diverse roster of artists. His unique sense of musicality has found a home playing and making records with songwriters, rock bands, jazz composers, avante-improvisers, and hip-hop and live electronic acts. Jones has also collaborated with dancers and visual artists as well as visiting experimentalists and theater productions via the Improvisation Summit of Portland and Time Based Arts Festivals. Outside of the NW, Andrew has had recurring work with artists from New York and Los Angeles, most recently an international touring stint with acclaimed songwriter/composer Julia Holter. The two connected when Jones’ opened for her with his own project, The Crenshaw, with drummer Chris Johnedis. That duo’s full length album features Jones singing darkly comic and cathartic lyrics in counterpoint to upright bass ostinatos, off-kilter beats and psychedelic synth samples. For his forthcoming record, Andrew has been working under the name ‘and/or you’ with Mike Lockwood on drums. 

Kendall Lujan: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Portland, Oregon based artist, Kendall Lujan embarks on her first full length album “Lucky Penny’ it is set to be released Fall 2024. After releasing her Debut self titled EP last Spring, featured on official playlist for Spotify and Apple Music. Lujan also gaining attention from NPR’s Tiny Desk, MTV and winning the John Lennon Songwriting contest. Sharing the stage with Amos Lee, Frazey Ford (of The Be Good Tanyas), Allie Crow Buckley, Early James, and The Magnetic Fields.

‘Lucky Penny’ features many genres Including Jazz, Folk, Bosa Nova and Indie-Rock. The natural singer and songwriter put together a studio band with Micah Hummel (drums), Colin Schmidt (bass) and Alex Milsted (piano) and recorded at the Map Room Studio in Portland, Oregon with Dominik Schmidt producing.

Her writing is real, introspective and reflective. After touring the songs in Europe twice this past Fall Lujan is ready to show her versatility and growth as an artist. The first single to be released late March 2024 titled ‘Goodbyes’. The song explores mourning and loss of important people in your world. In the sense of ending romantic relationships it explores the process of knowing when someone isn’t suited for your life or growth any longer. Lujan writes “I wrote this song to remind myself that even though things are hard you will meet those people who stick around eventually.” Even though people come and go in your world, remembering that there will be lots of cries and laughs on your journey to finding those people who see you for who you are. The main hook stating: ‘it takes a lot of goodbyes to get to forever. Lujan is set to tour Germany, Austria, and Switzerland again fall 2024.

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Bird & Willow

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Bird & Willow: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Born into a large musical family at the intersection of Bird Avenue and Willow Street, Shiloh and Jared started to write songs in their teens in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Inspired by 90s soft rock as well as folk duo acts like The Weepies and the Oh Hellos, the songs took shape around Jared’s multi-instrumental arranging abilities and Shiloh’s penchant for melodic storytelling and wordsmithing.

Bird and Willow cut their teeth on the indie circuit in San Jose, CA, playing everywhere from unplugged house shows to local street festivals which attracted thousands. Before long they were opening up for touring stops in San Francisco, supporting some of their favorite songwriters like Zach Winters, Tyson Motsenbocker, and Mike Edel, as well as bands such as Sherwood and The Collection.

Shiloh and Jared have now each made a home in the Pacific Northwest, and have been caught up in the thriving Portland music scene. On their most recent release, More Awake Now, the core threads of story-songs drenched in larger meaning have been joined with dreamy guitars, orchestral strings, and the lush production of Justin Kawashima.

Girlgoyle: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Girlgoyle is a band based in Portland, Oregon. Their sound and songs are inspired by longing for and loving the desert, softness and the opposite, and Land of Talk. 

Saroon: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Saroon is the genre-fluid creative outlet for the prolific multi-instrumentalist producer/composer ayal.  The project is founded on the idea that genuine self expression can act as a beacon for others to relate, and actualize themselves.  Over the last year Saroon has released diverse albums such as Gilgul, a piano based instrumental album that describes the process of reincarnation starting at the moment of death and ending at conception; ODDDITTIES VOL.1, an electro-pop album comprised of a collection of songs written for his songwriting podcast Honest Jams; and Dive 1, a collaborative ambient album in which ayal collaborated with members of Bathysphere records who made improvised beds of synths on which ayal recorded clarinet arrangements.  Through the music, ayal attempts to express the breadth of experience, from existential grief, to the silliest relief, to the hearts of the vulnerable, and the first cat in space, and what it means to live the lives, and the deepest connection, and waffles.

Nick Delffs: Presented by Sou’wester Arts

Nick Delffs grew up in Mendocino County, a lawless stretch of coastline that’s hard to get to and, for many, hard to escape. Nick did — emerging in the early aughts as the frontman for Portland band The Shaky Hands, whose sharp, jittery rock was anchored by Nick’s quavering vocals and questing lyrics. The Shaky Hands were mainstays of Portland on the verge of a major shift, and they rode that shift a while, signing to Kill Rock Stars and touring internationally with some of the bigger names in indie rock. But a hiatus in 2011 became indefinite and Nick Delffs was once again cast into the world: working as a sideman, releasing solo records, doing manual labor, going deeper into his spiritual practices, and, crucially, becoming a father.

Becoming a parent can affect different artists in different ways. Nick rode that change with surpassing grace and maturity. 2017’s Redesign, his first full-length under his own name, reflected the transition. In “Song for Aja”, Nick touched on other concerns familiar to those who follow his work: love of the natural world; longing for spiritual and physical connection; the desire to suffer with meaning and exult with abandon, to embrace somehow the world in its maddening contradictions and find the unity at the core.

Childhood Pastimes, his second release on Mama Bird Recording Co., is both more focused and, despite being technically an EP, more ambitious. It’s a four-song cycle — one song with many movements or four songs that bleed into one another, depending on how you hear it — that can be viewed either as a personal journey or an archetypal passage of a human being through four discrete stages: roughly, the movement from childhood innocence into adolescent adventure (The Escape); the sudden immersion into a life of discovery and excitement (The Dream); the first experience of romantic love, followed by the onset of heartbreak, dissolution, breakdown of self (The Affair); the emergence into a new way of thinking, a fresh perspective that encompasses all the suffering and joy into a balanced whole (The Outside).

Nick plays nearly all of the instruments here and the result is a unified aesthetic, born ultimately of his deep-seated love of rhythm: the thrum and throb of the acoustic guitars, the percussive melodic bang of the elegantly-crafted piano lines, and always, always the insistent, driving drums, propelling the record, and the listener, on this journey as the four tracks bleed into one another, one body, one blood, one beating heart. The concept of four songs that are really one suite of music requires a sure hand, and Nick’s never shakes: the way the songs blend together while retaining their distinctiveness — from the poppy exaltation of “The Escape” to the cold intensity, almost like an acoustic Kraftwerk, of “The Affair” — shows a songwriter and musician who has fully grown into his powers.

Those who have followed Nick’s career may see this as a culmination of years and years of honing and fine-tuning his bountiful gifts, and wonder with delight what might come next. For those who haven’t listened to Nick before, Childhood Pastimes is the perfect entry point, a distillation of what’s come before and the promise of a new beginning.

Kinsey Lee Presented by Sou’wester Arts!

Kinsey Lee is a member of the American indie folk band, The Wild Reeds. The Wild Reeds are known for their beautiful harmonies, poignant lyrics, and captivating performances. Kinsey Lee’s vocals are a central part of The Wild Reeds’ sound. She contributes her distinct voice and songwriting abilities to the band’s repertoire. With 10 years of writing, touring, and performing on her resume she has begun to find her voice as a solo artist. Kinsey recently debuted her first solo track “Lover’s song” recorded by Duff Thompson and Steph Green of Mashed Potato Records. She is currently working on a record as a follow up. Kinsey hopes to be like Bonnie Raitt, Carole King, Brandi Carlile,  and Lucinda Williams when she grows up. Musicians with strong lyrics, true grit, and a heartfelt story to tell.